Excavating machine



Aug. 16, 1932. A. EILERSGAARD EXCAVATING MACHINE Filed Jan. 13. 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 @Q @.Q. @am

Allg 16, 1932 A. EILEVRSGAARD 1,872,129

EXCAVATING MACHINE Filed Jan. 1s. 192s 5 sheets-sheet 2 OQ u wk Cw Aug- 15 1932 A. EILERSGAARD 1,872,129

' EXCAVATING MACHINE Filed Jan. 15, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Aug. 16, 1932 vuniran# 'STATES 12A-TENT l oFFi-cs Asennnrnnseaiannor cH1cAGo,. ,1LL1NoIs, Assrenon 'ro Linx-snm COMPANY, on cercado. .1LL1no1s,. .A ooarona'rron .fon ILLINOIS ExcAvA'rING MACHINE- Appuceudnefued aanuaryia, 1928.2 serial No. 246,428.

My invention relates to improvements inj excavating machinery and has for oneobj ect tolprovide aznew and improved typeaoshovel ori excavating machinev of :the `crawler supported type wherein the cross sectional area:

ot the machine may bereduced for shipment without entirely dismantling fthe apparatus to a size which: falls within the-standard railroad clearance. Anotheiobject of my inr` vention `is to vprovide a deviceA wherein the relatively wide crawler treads which must necessarily beused during the operation of thean'achine may be. conveniently and easily removed: and there may bey substituted for;

there may be' interchangeably' used wide working treads and. .narrow shipping treads.- fther objects will appear from timeto -time in the speciiication .and claims.-

My-invention is illustrated more: or lessdiagrammaticallyl in the accompanying .draw`- ings wherein- F igure l is aside elevation;

Figure 2 is an end view with the apparatus rigged for working;

Figure 3 is an end View with the apparatus rigged for shipping;

Figure 4e is a detail side elevation showing the machine in the act of moving from the working track to the shipping track;

Figure 5 is a section along the line 5-5 of Figure 1 Figure 6 is a section along the line 6-6 of Figure 4.

Like parts are indicated by like characters throughout the sever l figures.

A is a crawler frame. Projecting from this crawler frame are a series of crawler supporting brackets A1 terininating in stub axles A2. A3 is a transmission housing carried by the trame; -)rejecting from this transmission housing are driving shafts A4. Mounted for rotation with the driving shafts A4 are driving sprockets A5. Mounted for rotation on the stub end axle shafts A2 are supporting and idler rollers A6 A7, there being an idler sprocket A7 of relatively smaller diameter toward the rear end .of `the machine. A8 isa wonkingcrawlerA track. adapted t0.Y travel along these idlersprockets and supportingrollers AG and A7 and the driving sprocket. A2 this crawler track being continuous.

- It wil-lf vbe noted that the bracketsAlv and their stubV end .shafts extend out 'farenough so that these rollers, may engage the. central .portion of the relatively wide track,r thistrack beingas much as thirtyesix yinches wide, there being-one track on either side of themachine. The transmission from the power source and the control oi' the tracks torstopping, starting ordriving, form no: part rofrny.invention and `are not here illustratedor described.

j B. a shipping crawler track, the links of. which are much `narrower than the links ofA the track A?, perhaps only fourteen or six-` teeninches in width. 1 These tracks, there being one on each side of the apparatus are substantiallythe Width only of the supporting rollers. It will be noted that these tracks also are shown as endless, and are. preferably,y so'made,..though under some conditions it mightbesuiiic'ient to have merely` a length of. shipping .track on .each side only long enough tofcarrythe vehiclewithout having the tracks extending-up around the uppersides of the rollers. The tracks A8 and theA tracks Baref made up of separate. articulated trackilink., sections. l These sections are held together by. pins lB1 in the case `ofthe links forming thetrackQA8 and Abysimilar pins B2 in the case of the links forming th-e tracks B but in each case th'elinks are of the same length and the articulated portions of the links are such that a link forming the track B .may be pinnedto avlink forming the trackA? so that itis pos. sible to disconnect the Working track .A8, take. out'th'e upper links, couple to a section of the workingrtrack supporting the apparatus a, section otshipping track and move the maf chine by its own power from the Working. track onto the shipping track. It desired the. shipping track'may be laid on a railroadcar and anchored and the machine candraw itsellintoposition or if desired a complete shipping track may be substituted for the working track and the machine may be maneuvered from place to place on some roads as it is loaded or unloaded on the car. This is especially desirable because under some Circumstances the very wide working tracks make the machine somewhat less maneuverable than the narrow shipping tracks and the narrow shipping tracks are sufhcient to support the load when working on a firm foundation.

Mounted on the frame A is a ring gear C which provides on its side a track C1, rollers C2 travel along this track and support the working platform C3. A pinion C4 extends down from the working platform to mesh with the ring gear C and means are provided not here shown within the housing C5 on the working platform to operate this pinion to swing the working platform about its pivot point concentric with the ring gear C. A boom of any suitable type C6 is pivoted on the working platform and may be raised and lowered or removed as the case may be. For shipping, this boom may be lowered so that it is supported on a separate railroad car adjacent the car carrying the excavating machine itself. The rear end of the working platform C2 is provided with a storage pocket CT in which the separate links forming the working track may be stored so that these links when the machine is in operation may be used as counterbalance weights to counterbalance the boom and the load carried by it, thus making it unnecessary to provide any separate counterbalance weights and since the cost of the links is little more than the cost of the counterbalance weights the expense of these links is negligible.

lt is standard practice in building large machines such as illustratedV in the drawings of this case, to which the present invention is applicable, to have the overall width of the machine as near the standard clearance width of the rolling stock of steam railways as is practicable, in order that the machines may be shipped upon such railways, and yet have sucient width to furnish a base for safe operation. The chassis or supporting motor frame of the machine illustrated is formed to provide working spaces for the wide crawler tracks A8, below the cab or other superstructure parts of the machine, which cannot extend at the sides beyond the clearance allowances that have been referred to. The axles or supports for the sprockets and rollers with which the crawler tracks engage in practice also extend outwardly or laterally as far as clearance allowances permit so that the referred to working spaces beneath vthe cab or superstructure parts of the machine extend well inside the vertical planes of the rollers A.

It will be obvious that the mechanism shown is applicable to a loading machine, a drag line excavator, a crane, a Shovel or any device which involves a boom or similar element projecting from the working platform for the purpose of lifting loads or excavating or conveying machinery.

Vhile I have shown my invention as applied to an excavating machine or crane and while I have for the purpose of illustration referred to it in terms of such a device manifestly the invention is equally applicable to any device including a working platform7 a housing or Cap, a supporting mechanism and working machinery on the platform which can be reduced to smaller cross sectional area for shipment or other purposes than the normal cross sectional area of the machine.

IA claim:

A crawler vehicle comprising a frame, axles projecting laterally therefrom, a body mounted thereon above Vthe axles and projecting laterally a distance substantially equal to the projection of the axles, relatively wide rollers on the axles, a plurality of crawler chains comprising articulated links, and adapted to be separated at any articulation point, the links of one of said chains being substantially equal to the width of the rollers, the links of the other of said chains extending laterally beyond the rollers on one side beneath the body toward the frame, on the other side away from the body and the frame, each of said chains being separately adapted to form a closed circuit around the axles upon which the vehicle may travel and when disconnected to be connected to the other chain whereby the vehicle may travel from one chain to the other.

Signed at Chicago county of Cook and State of lllinois, this 11th day of January,

ASGER EILERSGAARD.

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